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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Charlton Neo Spotlight on Sandy Carruthers

By Dan Johnson

Canadian artist Sandy
Carruthers has been wowing comic book fans for close to thirty years. He is a
veteran talent that Charlton Neo was honored to have come on board to help
writer Roger McKenzie relaunch Spookman in The
Charlton Arrow, and we’re even more delighted that his second feature for
us, Spirit Talker, will be premiering in Charlton
Wild Frontier very soon. Recently I got the chance to sit down with
Carruthers to discuss his career, his love of comics in general and the
difference between American and Canadian superheroes.

Dan
Johnson: What got you into art and comics in particular?

Sandy
Carruthers: Essentially, I have to
say my very first exposure to comics was when I was four and saw Batman on TV. It led me to a crazy
appetite for comics. My Dad would always bring home books for me. He introduced
me to MAD, Superman, Classics
Illustrated, Charlton, and Heavy
Metal, when I was old enough. He never read them, but saw I had an interest,
and would ply me constantly. A science fiction reader, I think he understood
the fascination, and realized it was more than a reading thing. Especially when
I started drawing all the time.

Johnson:
Who were some of your earliest influences from the world of comics?

Johnson:
What about artists outside of comics?

Johnson: You studied at
the Joe Kubert School via a correspondence course in its early years. Who were
some of the instructors that you interacted with through the school?

Carruthers: Theinstructor who critiqued my pages, I
believe, was either Adam or Andy Kubert, though I wasn’t sure because it really
did look like Joe’s style. Excellent course though. Really gave me clear
direction with my stuff.

Johnson: For a time you
also did editorial cartoons. Tell us about that experience.

Carruthers: I did editorial
cartoons for ten years for the local paper here on Prince Edward Island. I had to produce
three a week, and it had to relate to local news. It was challenging, as I was
working full-time, and I enjoyed it, but I had to stop because it was burning
me out, and I really wanted to focus on comic book art only.

Johnson:
How did you come to work at Malibu Comics?

Carruthers: At the
time, the B&W comics were the new rage, and a lot of publishers were
springing up every where. I heard through the grapevine about Eternity Comics
and how they were looking for stories for their anthology Shattered Earth. I submitted, and they accepted my story! This was
way back in the mid ‘80’s. This led to more work from them. They were a great
group of people to work with.

Johnson: While at Malibu, you worked on Men in Black. While doing that, did you
ever have an idea it would become the hit film franchise that it did?

Carruthers: Never in
a zillion years.

Johnson: You also worked
on Captain Canuck, one of the most important characters to come out of Canada.
How did you land that job?

Carruthers: I
contacted Richard Comely when I heard he was reviving the character. I was a
huge fan of George Freeman’s art and collected all of the titles when I was a
kid, so it was a dream come true when Comely brought me on board to illustrate
the newspaper strip. Cool, though, but man, it was a crazy deadline driven
project!

Johnson: American
superheroes and Canadian superheroes: What’s the biggest difference between the
two?

Carruthers:
Interesting question. When I see Canadian characters like Wolverine, I don’t
see a lot of difference. I’d say the dangers would be different up here in
Canada. Because our country is predominantly nature, the real threats would
come from protecting our natural resources, I suppose. We’re small in
population, but we’ve got a good tough attitude. It comes from surviving these
winters.

Johnson:
You’ve also worked on the web comic, Canadiana.
Tell us about that series.

Carruthers:Canadiana was a collaborative effort with
myself, Mark Shainblum, and Jeff Alward. I created her at a time I felt Canada
needed a new strong hero figure. The series went on for awhile, but it
essentially stopped due to our lives getting too busy. Her story can be found
here: http://canadiana.comicdish.com.
Mark and I have been talking about a Canadiana revival, and I’m thinking it’s
not too far out there to think she may return. Time will tell.

Johnson: You’ve had the
chance to work in print and on the web. What do you see as being the greatest
advantage of both outlets and what do you see is the greatest drawback of both?

Carruthers: I like
print. I find web dissatisfying because it lacks the tactile nature. I see its
merit, but I just don’t feel it’s for me personally. I like process, and I get
that satisfaction from print.

Johnson:
How did you come to work for Charlton Neo?

Carruthers: I
stumbled across Fester’s Arrow fan page when it was just starting. I was hooked
right away. The Charlton Arrow fan page is one of the best pages on Facebook.
It’s an awesome group of devoted fans who love Charlton and everything about
it. When opportunity came up to draw for it, I couldn’t resist. When Charlton Neo
was born I was there, and I hope will remain for a good long time!

Johnson: What projects
are you working on right now for the company?

Carruthers:
Currently, I’m waiting for a new script for Spookman for Charlton Action. I’m really jazzed working with a legend like
Roger McKenzie on this. I’m hoping
Charlton Wild Frontier’s Spirit Talkergets good buzz, because I’d love to do more with this character.

Johnson: Are you working
on anything outside of Charlton Neo you would like to promote?

Carruthers: I just
finished a short story for a selfie with April Baird and Sylvie Ouellet called
“Tales of Poe” which is coming out next month, otherwiseI’m not doing anything outside Neo at
this point, as I have to currently balance this work with my full-time position
as instructor here at Holland College, and there are only so many hours in a
day! Eventually, I hope to be doing comics full-time, but for now
I’m happy with the workload as it stands. I love everything about the medium:
the research, the design and execution, and I wish to keep developing as an
artist toward this goal. It’s nice too, in this day and age to have real-time
connection to both fellow creators and readers. It gives the process a pulse
that makes it really satisfying. It’s a great time to be producing comics!